Sunday Snippets: As the Sushant Singh Rajput case fizzles out

Sunday Snippets

By Venkatesh Raghavan

Sushant case presents Us vs Them syndrome

The Sushant Singh Rajput suicide case that dominated the media attention for several months post the actor’s body found hanging on the evening of June 14, 2020 has now taken the turn of posthumous celebrity status with the Delhi government announcing the naming of a road after the actor. His sister Shweta Singh Kirti also chirped into the celebratory mode with a host of film fraternity people paying tributes to the actor on his birth anniversary over social media. Shweta announced a special scholarship fund in memory of her actor brother.

The continuous probe that was being conducted by the nodal Narcotic Control Bureau with a spate of arrests of people from the film fraternity allegedly supplying drugs to Sushant is yet to be taken to its logical conclusion. The media interest or rather outrage over what the actor was subject to or faced with before his tragic death on June 14, however has petered out given the investigative trail turning seemingly endless.

The initial focus of the investigation over the actor’s suicide death was factors that amounted to abetment of suicide with the focus being on his ex-girlfriend Rhea Chakraborty. Sushant’s family at that point of time, alleged in a FIR launched with a Patna police station that Rhea had siphoned the funds of Sushant to the tune of Rs. 15 crore and was instrumental in causing the actor’s tragic end. As months passed by, however, the focus turned away from the financial angle as the other nodal agency Enforcement Directorate (ED) concluded that there was no direct transfer of funds of significant proportions from Sushant’s account to that of Rhea’s. It further said, the handling of funds indicated that Rhea was managing the actor’s travel expenses through bank transactions besides hospitality charges.

Mid-way through Sushant’s brother wanted the CBI to investigate a fresh angle. He claimed that Sushant had been murdered and it was not suicide, and the CBI was not taking due cognizance of the facts that came to light to his family and close friends. The CBI however, disclaimed that there was any murder angle quoting the forensic reports that came from the stables of the AIIMS. It was at this point of time that actress Kangana Ranaut jumped into the fray accusing a cartel from the film fraternity of being predatory and supplying narcotic drugs to people it desired to suppress or eliminate.

With two of the nodal agencies, namely Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and Enforcement Directorate (ED) taking a backseat, it was the NCB that went into the fray exploring the angle of people from the film fraternity who were guilty of deliberately making Sushant stock and consume narcotic drugs right from ganja to the lethally potent hashish. The latest in the spate of arrests was assistant director Rishikesh Pawar. The nodal agency is working on the theory that during the lockdown period, Sushant’s house assistant, Dipesh Sawant used to procure drugs from Pawar. Media sources also reported that the nodal agency has uncovered graphic images of several kinds of narcotic drugs on Pawar’s laptop.

Late January 2021 brought another incident that attracted media focus on Sushant Singh’s case. Sushant’s cousin Raj Kumar Singh sustained injuries after he was shot while traveling towards Madhepura in Bihar. Though not as widely reported as Sushant’s death case, it lends itself to a story angle where Sushant’s family might be the target of a powerful enemy from within the film fraternity.

To sum up, the Sushant Singh case has triggered a Us versus Them type of syndrome in film circles, with people accusing the inner circles of the fraternity targeting successful people who hail from outside the film world.